The was a heavy

howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...

used by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...

during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The Type 4 designation was given to this gun as it was accepted in the 4th year of Emperor Taishō's reign (1915).War Department Special Series No 25 ''Japanese Field Artillery'' October 1944

History and development

The Type 4 15 cm Howitzer was designed by the Army’s Osaka Armory to rectify the shortcomings of the Type 38 15 cm howitzer – namely its lack of portability. The

Type 96 15 cm Howitzer The was a 149.1 mm calibre howitzer used by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. It was intended to replace the Type 4 15 cm howitzer in front line combat units from 1937, although it fired the same ammunition. It was first used ...

was intended to replace it, but it remained in use throughout World War II. Weapons captured by the Chinese remained in use at least through the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...

. The Type 4 (1915) 150-mm Howitzer was designed during World War I to replace the Type 38 15 cm Howitzer. It was manufactured in considerable quantities and remained the standard Japanese medium artillery piece until 1936. The Type 4 is the first Japanese weapon to replace the hydrospring recoil system with the hydropneumatic. Its modified box trail allows it to fire at extreme elevations, increasing its usefulness in jungle or rugged terrain.

Design

The Type 4 was notable as the first Japanese artillery piece to use a hydro-pneumatic recoil system. It had a vertical sliding breech block and a box type trail. It could be moved short distances as one load, but needed to be broken down into two loads for longer distances. The

gun barrel A gun barrel is a crucial part of gun-type weapons such as small firearms, artillery pieces, and air guns. It is the straight shooting tube, usually made of rigid high-strength metal, through which a contained rapid expansion of high-pres ...

was removed from the cradle and placed on the rear portion of the trail, to which were attached an extra pair of wheels. A limber was attached to each section, so that each load could be towed by six horses. The type 4 used semifixed ammunition with high-explosive, as well as

armor-piercing Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate either body armour or vehicle armour. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armour carried on many warsh ...

, shrapnel, chemical, smoke and incendiary tracer projectiles. Its most remarkable characteristic of the Type 4 is its extreme lightness in relation to the weight of the ammunition it fires. The howitzer is broken down into two loads-the tube and the cradle assembly-for travel. This operation increases the time necessary to emplace it, but in areas where bridges are flimsy or nonexistent, two-load draft considerably increases the mobility of the piece. Although it is possible to tow the Type 4 in one load, it is not safe to do this for considerable distances or over bad roads because of the extreme length of the trail which would be likely to break if subjected to any considerable jolting.

Combat record

Type 4 15 cm Howitzer was considered somewhat obsolescent for frontline combat service from the start of the

, but as insufficient quantities of the Type 96 15 cm howitzer were produced, it remained in service on many fronts during the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vas ...

.
Taki's Imperial Japanese Army page Against the Chinese, the Type 4 was used with some success due to the fact the Chinese were desperately lacking in heavy artillery in the early part of the war. However, whenever the Japanese did face Chinese heavy artillery typically armed with German 15 cm sFH 18 heavy artillery guns, e.g. in the Battles of Wuhan and Changsha, Type 4 crews found themselves badly outranged and hopelessly outgunned. Weapons captured by the Chinese during the Second Sino-Japanese War, or abandoned in China at the time of the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Na ...

, were placed into service by both the

National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in China ...

of the

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

government and the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...

of the

Chinese communist The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

forces through the Chinese Civil War (1946-1949).

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Bishop, Chris (ed.). ''The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II''. Barnes & Noble. 1998. . * Chamberlain, Peter and Gander, Terry. ''Heavy Field Artillery''. Macdonald and Jane's, 1975. . * Chant, Chris. ''Artillery of World War II''. Zenith Press, 2001. . * McLean, Donald B. ''Japanese Artillery; Weapons and Tactics''. Wickenburg, Ariz.: Normount Technical Publications, 1973. . * Mayer, S. L. ''The Rise and Fall of Imperial Japan''. The Military Press, 1984. . * War Department Special Series No 25 ''Japanese Field Artillery'' October 1944 * US Department of War. ''TM 30-480, Handbook on Japanese Military Forces''. Louisiana State University Press, 1994. .

External links

Type 4 on Taki's Imperial Japanese Army page

{{Imperial Japanese Army artillery World War I artillery of Japan World War II field artillery 4 150 mm artillery